


Season’s Change

by TerminalMiraculosis



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Finale spoilers, Gen, May and June deserve the world, Post-Finale, Webby is in full Big Sister Mode, more characters/relationships to be added later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-24 14:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerminalMiraculosis/pseuds/TerminalMiraculosis
Summary: After the raid on F.O.W.L. is over, May and June must face the greatest adventure of all: trying to get to know their new family—and themselves.A series of one-shots focusing on May and June’s relationships with the other characters, with continuity.
Comments: 45
Kudos: 177





	1. What does that do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louie helpfully explains the wonders of modern kitchen appliances to an eager May.

Louie let out a yawn as he entered the kitchen, maneuvering over to the fridge. It wasn’t particularly early in the morning, or late at night; Louie just yawned during all hours of the day. He saw it as a sign that he was living his best life. 

He extracted a can of Pep from the fridge, cracked it open, and took that first, glorious sip. He let out a refreshed sigh, and then turned around to head back to the TV—only to spot a pair of eyes peering around the doorway at him, underneath a big yellow bow. They made eye contact, and with a high-pitched ‘Meep!’ May ducked out of sight. 

Ooooookay.

“You can come in, you know,” Louie said. “I promise I’ve showered today.”

A second later, May appeared in the doorway, smiling sheepishly at him and wringing her hands together behind her back. “Uh, haha, sorry. I didn’t mean to spy, I just… didn’t want to bother you.”

“Eh, you’re not bothering me. Trust me, I’ll let you know if you’re bothering me.” He took a sip of his Pep. “Appreciate it, though. My other siblings bother me constantly and never show even the slightest hint of remorse.”

May seemed to study him as she entered the room. “Other… siblings?”

“Yeah, you know. Dewey, Huey, Webby… pretty sure you guys have met.”

“No, I know that, I just—” She swallowed. “I didn’t know you considered  _ me _ to be your… sister.”

“Any sister of Webby’s is a sister of mine,” Louie said simply. 

The look May gave him after that—on the verge of tears, like that was the nicest thing anybody had ever said to her—suddenly made him very, very sad for her, which in turn made him feel very, very awkward. 

“Or, uh, whatever, you know,” he said, shrugging. “So, do you want a Pep or something?”

That seemed to snap May out of it. “A Pep?” she asked, cocking her head. “What’s that?”

“It’s a brand of soda,” Louie said, wiggling his own can around to demonstrate. 

“I… don’t know what soda is,” May admitted. 

Louie hummed. “Do you know what water is?”

May nodded. 

“And do you know what candy is?”

She perked up at that. “Yeah! Like those lollipops Pepper would give us sometimes when nobody else was looking!”

“Yeah, so imagine if you melted a bunch of lollipops and put them in water,” Louie said. “And then you made it angry.”

“Angry?”

“Here.” Louie popped open the fridge, cracked open a second Pep, and handed it to May. “Try it.”

“Oh, uh, okay…” May looked into the can suspiciously for a few seconds before bringing it up to her beak. “Mmff!” she exclaimed, eyes going wide as she brought a hand to her mouth. She gulped down the mouthful. “Wow, you’re right; it  _ is _ angry candy water! I don’t know if I love it or hate it.” She took another experimental sip, and went through a slideshow of facial expressions. “Nope, still don’t know.”

“Hmm. Well, I’m not surprised, Pep is a bit of an acquired taste. Only for those with a sophisticated palette.”

“Oooh,” May said, nodding slowly. “That makes sense.” She took another sip. “And you store the Pep in this… Pep… containment box?” 

Louie followed her gaze. “Oh, that’s the refrigerator. We keep a lot more stuff in there than just Pep. It keeps food and drinks cold.”

“Why do you need them to be cold?” May asked. 

“Oh, well, obviously that’s to induce hibernation,” Louie said. “If they weren’t kept cold, the food might wake up and escape.”

May’s eyes widened, gripping her Pep can in front of her chest with both hands. “Woah. Really? I didn’t know food could do that.”

“Yep,” Louie said. “We keep the more docile foods over there in the pantry. They’re fine to keep at room temperature.”

“Fascinating,” May said, taking another tentative sip of her soda. “You know so much about all this stuff, Louie.”

“I sure do,” Louie agreed. “That’s why they call me the smart triplet.”

May’s eyed wandered around the kitchen. “What about that? What’s that one do?”

“Ahh, you have a good eye, May. That’s the toaster. A fascinating device, really; you put slices of bread in these slots and push the lever, which lowers the bread down into the toaster. A tiny little elf lives inside the toaster, and he eats up the bread and gives you a slice of toast in return. Toast is like bread but crunchier, and the elf can’t eat it because he doesn’t have the jaw strength to get through it, so he engages in trade with us.”

“Amazing,” May said, eyes sparkling. “I feel like I should be taking notes on this!”

“You probably should,” Louie said. “It’s not every day that you get this kind of grade-A scientific info on modern kitchen appliances.” He took a long slurp of Pep. “So. Anything else you want to know about?”

* * *

Webby walked into the kitchen to refill her water, but stopped when she saw that May and June were huddled around the microwave, surrounded by at least two full packs’ worth of empty Pep cans. 

“Uh, what are you guys doing?” Webby asked. 

“Oh, hi, Webby!” May greeted over her shoulder. 

“May’s telling me how the  _ microwave _ works!” June squealed excitedly. 

Webby frowned. “She… is?” 

“Mmhmm!” June said, before turning back to May. “So, what happens after you push the button?”

“Oh! Well, once you start it, the sides here fill with molten lava extracted from the Earth’s mantle, and that cooks your food super fast!”

June’s eyes widened. “Oooooo! That’s so cool!”

Webby scrunched up her face in confusion. “What? No, that’s not—lava?  _ Really?  _ No, who told you—” She stopped, letting out a sigh.  _ “Louie.” _

May looked up at her nervously. “Wait, are you saying he was… lying to me?”

“He enjoys messing with people sometimes,” Webby explained. “Don’t worry, it actually means he likes you, he’s just…” Webby sighed. “He’s just  _ Louie.  _ Forget whatever he told you, okay? And if you really want to know about how something works, Huey loves explaining things.”

“Oh,” May said, staring crestfallen at one of the Pep cans on the counter in front of her. “Okay.”

Webby frowned as June put a comforting hand on May’s shoulder, then huffed, storming out of the room.

* * *

Louie was in the middle of an episode when the TV shut off. “Aww, come on!” he cried, throwing out his hands. “Who—oh crap.”

Webby was standing a few feet away, remote in hand, burning a hole through his brain with her eyes. 

“Oh, jeez,” Louie said. “I know this will probably only make you  _ more _ angry, but, um… What did I do this time?”

“What did you do?!” Webby repeated, eyebrow twitching dangerously. “WHAT DID YOU DO?! You lied to May about how all the kitchen appliances work!”

“Oh, that,” Louie said. “Wait,  _ that’s  _ what you’re mad about? I do that to Dewey all the time!”

Webby rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, May and June aren’t  _ Dewey, _ okay?! They’re trying really hard to fit in around here after everything that happened, and you making them feel stupid to amuse yourself isn’t helping. They’ve already been lied to enough.”

Louie winced. “I—you’re right. Sorry, that was dumb, I—I don’t know. Sometimes I have trouble turning the Louie off, I think.”

“I know you like your fun,” Webby said, her voice softer now. “And it’s fine when it’s the right time. Because, like, okay, when you convinced Dewey that two story buildings weren’t invented until the nineteen hundreds, that was pretty funny. There’s always a line, though, and I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

Louie sighed, and got up off the couch. “Right.”

* * *

He found May sitting on the steps on the front porch, arms crossed over her legs as she stared out at the gurgling fountain. She turned when he opened the doors, and then frowned. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Uh. Hey,” Louie said, closing the door and sitting down next to her. 

“Why are you here?” May asked, her tone sharp. “Gonna tell me how fountains are actually powered by a big whale underneath the lawn that uses its blowhole to send a bunch of water shooting up?”

Louie laughed. “Hey, that’s actually a pretty good one.”

May gave him a flat look. 

He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Uh, no, that’s not why I’m here. I wanted to apologize.”

May looked at him for a while, like she hadn’t been expecting that. “…Oh.”

“I know you guys are new around here. It’s not your fault you were cooped up in a lab for your whole life. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of that; I was being a jerk.”

May turned away, sighing. “It’s okay. It’s my fault for being so gullible. I should’ve known you didn’t mean any of that, you just… got my hopes up. It’s like Bradford told us before our mission: the easiest lies to sell are the ones people want to be true.”

Well now Louie was just confused. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

“When you said you saw me as a sister,” May said. She was still refusing to look at him. “I should’ve known you didn’t mean it. I’m an evil clone made to help kill your uncle or whatever, not…” She trailed off. “Well, I hope you got a good laugh out of me, at least.”

Louie’s eyes widened, staring at the side of May’s head in shock. It was a couple seconds before he found his voice, but when he did, it was all a jumble. “Wait wait wait no no no, no, that’s not—I wasn’t lying about  _ that! _ Holy crap, I would  _ never _ lie about something like that! God, that would be one twisted freaking joke! I’m a little bit evil, sure, but I’m not  _ that  _ evil!”

“W-what?” May whipped around, and Louie could see that her eyes had been watering. “You mean…?”

Louie sighed. “Look, I’m not good with… mushy feelings and stuff, you know? But I meant what I said. I really do think you’re my sister. And, I mean, you’re right, I don’t know you too well, and maybe we started on the wrong foot, but, like…” He ran a hand through his hair, searching for the words. “Webby means the world to me, you know? She does. All of them do. And she’s so  _ excited  _ to have sisters now. Plus, you and June… look, what FOWL did with you two was pretty messed up. You guys deserve a good family. So I mean, we may not be like a proper brother and sister  _ yet,  _ but I’m willing to put in the work to get us there, you know? I think it’ll be worth it. I-I mean, if you want to be my sister, that is.”

May looked up at him in disbelief, and then started crying, throwing herself against him in a hug so forceful it almost sent them rolling down the stairs. Fortunately, he’d taken enough surprise hugs from Webby to keep his balance. 

“Haha, woah, okay,” Louie said, returning the hug after he got his bearings.

“Thanks, Louie,” May mumbled into his hoodie. “I’d love to be your sister.”

“I’m glad,” Louie said. “I’ll try not to screw it up again. Also, side note, you should totally tell Dewey that thing about the fountain and the whale. I bet he’d buy it.”

May laughed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I simply think that May and Louie would be friends :)


	2. Pancakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huey makes breakfast. June... helps?

June’s eyes snapped open as she awoke, surrounded by the warm, fluffy blankets of her new bed in her new room in McDuck Manor. A smile spread across her beak. “It’s morning!” she exclaimed, sitting up and throwing her hands into the air. 

Across the room, May blearily rolled over in her own bed to look at June, twisting herself up in the blankets as she did so. “What’s got you so excited?” she asked tiredly. 

“Are you kidding?” June said. “Now that we’re out of that dumb lab and slightly less dumb but still pretty dumb library, every  _ day  _ is an adventure!”

“Okay, well… maybe the adventure could start a little later on in the day,” May proposed. “It’s…  _ early.” _

“C’mon, May!” June encouraged, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and bouncing up and down on the palms of her hands. “There’s so much to do! So much to explore!”

“I’ll catch up with you in a bit, June,” May said. She rolled back over again, getting even more wrapped up in her covers in the process. “Right now I’m exploring this bed. It’s a really good bed.”

May was right; they  _ were  _ really good beds. They had never had beds before! Everything here was so exciting. “Okay then! I’ll see you later byeee!”

June bounced off the mattress and ran out into the mansion, her rapid footfalls muffled by the carpet. She wandered around aimlessly for a while, admiring all the cool antique furniture and decorations that she had been instructed not to touch, and occasionally touching a few of them. Eventually, though, as she descended the stairs to the main floor of the mansion, her nose picked up a curious scent, and she paused. 

She followed the smell all the way to the kitchen, where she saw Huey at the stove, humming a little tune to himself as he mixed a big bowl of… something. That’s where the good smell was coming from, though, so she had to investigate. 

June walked forward until she was standing directly behind Huey, watching over his shoulder as he stirred his mysterious mixture. Then, he reached over to a bag of small little brown chunks and drizzled them into the bowl, resuming his stirring soon after. 

“Whatchya doin?” June asked. 

_ “AAAAAAA!”  _ Huey screamed, nearly falling over as he whirled around, scrambling backwards. He let out a heavy exhalation once he saw it was her, clamping a hand over his heart. “J-J-June! I didn’t—I didn’t see you there!”

“Sorry!” June said guiltily, taking a step back. “I wasn’t trying to be sneaky, I just smelled something good and came to see what it was…”

“It’s—oh, I mean—you know, it’s—I didn’t—it’s okay,” Huey stuttered out. “You’re, uh, up early?”

June cocked her head to the side. “Am I?”

“Yeah, normally I’m the only one who gets up before eight,” Huey said. “Well, besides Beakley.”

“Ooo, we can be morning buddies!” June said excitedly. 

Huey gave her a look she couldn’t quite make sense of. He was smiling, but it also kind of looked like he was in pain. “That… sounds great, June!”

“Great!” June chirped. “So, what are you doing?”

“I’m making chocolate chip pancakes,” Huey said. “They’re a really tasty breakfast food.”

“Oh my god, I  _ love _ food!” June exclaimed. “Can I have some?”

“Sure,” Huey said, with a much more normal smile this time. “I always make extra.”

“Great!” June reached forward and dipped her hand into the bowl. 

“Wait wait wait no no that’s just the batter!” Huey said frantically, grabbing her wrist and pulling it out. “I still need to cook it!”

“Whoops!” June let out a nervous giggle, wiping the batter off on her pajama shirt. “Sorry…”

Huey sighed, grabbing a napkin and gently cleaning off her shirt. “It’s alright. In the future, though, try not to wipe things off on your clothes. It can stain.”

“Sorry,” she repeated.

Huey turned back to the stove, and began pouring the batter out onto a pan that had been laid out in several big splotches. It began to sizzle, and June’s eyes lit up as she leaned in. 

“Woah! What’s it doing?”

“It’s cooking,” Huey said. “This will turn it from a liquid batter into little circles of soft bread.”

“Wow,” June said, reaching out. “I didn’t know cooking was so cool!”

Huey’s eyes widened. “Wait, June, don’t touch that! It’s—”

June touched it. 

“—hot,” Huey finished. 

Unimaginable pain. 

“OW OW OW OW OW!” June screamed, frantically shaking her hand, and her throbbing finger, around in the air. “IT WAS A TRAP! IT WAS A TRAP!”

“I  _ told  _ you not to touch it!” Huey chastised, exasperated, as he took June’s not-burned hand and led her over to the sink. He turned on the cold water. “Run the burn under that for at least five minutes, okay?”

“O—Okay,” June sniffled, putting her finger under the water. “Sorry,” she mumbled, half under her breath. Huey didn’t seem to hear, or if he did, he didn’t respond. 

She kept her finger under the water, and it was gradually hurting less. She felt so stupid; why couldn’t she just stop and think before—oooh, wait, Huey was  _ flipping  _ the pancakes now? …It had been five minutes, right? It felt like it had been five minutes. 

June stepped away from the sink, walking closer to watch as Huey went through the pancakes one by one, flipping them over with a spatula. June’s eyes widened as the undersides were revealed to be a lovely, smooth golden brown, speckled with pockets of those dark brown chunks that seemed to be melting slightly. 

“Woah, they look  _ so  _ much better than the batter did!” June said in amazement.

Huey jumped in surprise, letting out a yelp and sending the pancake he was trying to flip careening through air, slapping hilariously against his cheek before flopping disgracefully to the floor. 

June giggled, but quickly stopped when Huey turned around to face her, eye twitching. “Maybe,” he said, voice quietly controlled,” you should wait at the table.”

Oh.

June nodded, and scurried out of the room. She threw herself into one of the chairs and buried her face in her hands. Why was she like this? Why couldn’t she just be  _ normal,  _ instead of—instead of screwing everything up all the time? She hadn’t been good at being evil, but she wasn’t good at being good, either. Heron had been right. 

She was still feeling sorry for herself when Huey came in, setting a plate stacked with pancakes in front of her. It was lightly drizzled with a sweet-smelling, viscous liquid, and June found herself drooling. 

“There you go,” Huey said. He was smiling at her, and June didn’t quite know what to make of that. Wasn’t he mad at her? “Dig in!”

June glanced between him and the pancakes, and then picked up her knife and fork, carving out a sizable chunk of pancake and shoveling it into her mouth. And oh, god, it was  _ heavenly.  _

“How do you like the—aaaand you’re crying,” Huey said, eyes going wide. “Oh god, why are you crying? Did I make you cry? Oh no, if Webby finds out I made you cry—”

“THEY’RE SO GOOOD!” June wailed, tears streaking down her face. “THESE ARE THE TASTIEST THINGS IVE EVER EATEN!”

Huey looked confused. “So—are these, uh, supposed to be happy tears? Because they do  _ not  _ look very happy I’ll be honest.”

“Noooooooo, I’m  _ sad!”  _ June sobbed. “I’m g-gonna miss these so much after you guys kick me out of the mansionnnn!”

“Woah, what?!” Huey exclaimed. “Kick you out? We’re not kicking you out! What makes you think that?!”

“Because— _ hic— _ because I kept screwing up at F.O.W.L, and so they were gonna kick me out, and then I kept screwing up in the kitchen so  _ you  _ kicked me out, and since I’m a giant screw-up I’m gonna  _ keep _ screwing up and eventually you guys’ll just kick me out entirely!” She hiccuped. “And then I’ll have to live under a b-bridge and charge people tolls just to make a living and it’ll be cold and I’ll never have your chocolate chip pancakes ever a— _ hic— _ ever again!”

Huey stared at her for a while. “Your back-up plan is to be a bridge troll?”

“Y-you’re right, I’d probably just mess that up too,” June said. 

“June, we aren’t going to kick you out.”

She looked up at him. “You’re n-not?”

“No.” Huey sighed. “Look, it’s true that I got frustrated with you in the kitchen. But I wasn’t  _ angry  _ with you; you’re still getting used to everything, and I get that. It’s just… we’re also still getting used to you and May. There are gonna be some hurdles while we all figure this out, that means sometimes we’re each going to need our space. And… yeah, sometimes you’re gonna mess up. But that  _ never  _ means we want to kick you out, or that we don’t love you. Okay?”

June hiccuped, wiping at her eyes. “Okay,” she echoed. 

“Besides,” Huey said, “if we kicked you out, I wouldn’t have anybody to share my pancakes with.” He reached his hand out across the table. “Morning buddies?”

June sniffled, but managed a smile. “Morning buddies.”

The rest of her pancakes tasted even better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the sweet comments on the previous chapter! I’m enjoying writing for these two SOOOOO MUCH, so I’m really glad people are enjoying it :D


	3. Clone Therapy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After May and June's appearance on Dewey Dew-Night goes slightly awry, Webby decides she needs to call in some backup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole week since the finale... in celebration, heres a BIIIIG chapter for u guys!!

“Aaand we're rolling,” Webby said, pressing the record button on the camera. 

She was standing in the triplets’ room, though Huey and Louie had been cleared out to make way for the Dewey Dew-Night set. Dewey was, of course, seated behind the host’s desk, while May and June were in the guest chairs, positively beaming. Ever since they had first heard about Dewey’s talk show—which was very quickly because Dewey brought it up constantly—they had been dying to go on it. Webby was pretty sure they didn’t really understand what it was, but that had never stopped them from trying things in the past, so she supposed she should’ve seen this coming. 

May met her eye as the recording light flicked on, and Webby gave her a thumbs-up and a big grin. She just hoped they had fun. 

“Helllllllo, and _welcome,_ dear viewers, to the next episode of Dewey Dew-Night! We’ve got some _very_ special guests with us today; you may know them from that time they captured basically our entire family, or better yet, that time they totally _saved_ our entire family! That’s right, it’s Maaaaay and Juuuuuuune!”

“Hi!” June greeted, waving at him. 

“Hello,” May said simply. “So, how does this work, exactly?”

“Oh, well, it’s very simple,” Dewey said. “I’ll ask you a few questions about yourselves, and you answer them!”

“Like an interrogation?” May asked. 

Dewey’s showman smile faltered a little. “Uh—like a _friendly_ interrogation!”

June clapped her hands together. “Oh, so like one of Pepper’s interrogations!”

“…Yes?” Dewey said, shooting a subtle look over toward Webby, who just gave him a shrug from behind the camera. He cleared his throat. “So! Tell me a little bit about yourselves. What do you like to do?”

“Oh, oh! Huey’s been showing me how to cook!” June let out a bashful giggle. “I’m… not very good. But he says I’m getting better!”

“Huey, huh?” Dewey nodded. “Yeah, he used to make a lot of our meals back on the Houseboat when Uncle Donald was out. He’s a great cook.”

June beamed. “Yeah! He’s a great teacher too. He’s always really patient with me even when I keep messing up!”

Dewey smiled, and Webby could tell it wasn’t just for the camera; she was smiling, too. “That’s great, June,” Dewey said. “What about you, May?”

“Oh! Well, um…” She pulled on her sleeve. “I’ve been trying out a few things here and there. Louie’s been showing me his favorite television shows, and those are fun, but… I don’t know. I haven’t really been doing much. I’ve been trying out drawing because forgery was always my favorite subject, but I get frustrated when it doesn’t turn out how I want.”

Webby could see Dewey’s eyebrow raise. _Don’t ask it,_ she thought. _Don’t ask it, don’t ask it, don’t ask it!_

“Forgery was your favorite subject?” Dewey asked, genuinely confused. “What do you mean by that?”

Webby buried her face in her hands. Of all times for her sibling telepathy to fail!

“Back in F.O.W.L., we had a few core subjects we were taught,” May explained. “Combat, stealth, forgery, theft, abduction, interrogation… you know, the usual.”

Dewey just stared at her. 

“And so, uh, forgery was my favorite,” May finished awkwardly.

“My favorite was theft!” June chirped. 

“W-well, uh, that’s nice,” Dewey said. “Anyway, May, I’m sure you’re a lot better than you think you are! I’d love to see your drawings sometime.”

“Oh,” May said, turning a bit pink. “Uh—thank you.”

Webby let out a breath. _Good save._

“So, I can’t help but notice that you seem to have a bit of color coordination going on with your outfits. You may not know this, but I’m a big fan of color coordination myself. Are these your favorite colors?”

“Hmm?” June looked down at her clothes. “Favorite color? I’ve never thought about that before.”

“Heron gave us these outfits because they were visually distinct, but also similar enough that it wouldn’t encourage individuality,” May said. 

“Wouldn’t encourage—” Dewey looked appalled. “What?”

“Yeah, that was a big thing for her,” June said, rolling her eyes. “Like, that we knew we weren’t our own people, just clones. You know?”

“Which is stupid,” May said. 

“Yeah, that’s—that’s super stupid!” Dewey agreed. 

May nodded. “Mmhmm. Like, come on, you don’t have to tell us that. We know! We spent like fifty percent of our lives in giant test tubes!”

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious we’re just clones,” June said. “We weren’t going to forget that if we put on different clothes or whatever.”

“Ohhhhh dear,” Dewey said. “You know, uh, maybe you shouldn’t really put too much stake into what Heron told you?”

“Well, it’s… it’s hard not to,” June admitted, looking down. “Before we met you guys, she was the only family we had.”

May nodded. “She made us, she taught us most of what we know, she brought us our nutrition blocks…”

Dewey looked like someone had just kneed him in the gut. “Nutrition blocks? Actually, I don’t think I want to know.”

“She was our Mom,” June said. 

“And now—” May looked away bitterly. “And now she’s _dead.”_

“Hoooo boy, uh, okay, well, uh—” Dewey cleared his throat. “Excuse me. We’ll take a quick break while I go talk to my production assistant.”

“You mean Webby?” June asked. 

“My production assistant,” Dewey repeated, sliding out of his chair and running over to Webby. 

“I swear, I did _not_ mean for it to go like this!” Dewey whispered once he reached her. 

“I know you didn’t,” Webby assured. “It’s not your fault.”

“Why is everyone I interview on this show severely traumatized?” Dewey wondered aloud. “Ugh, okay, so—Webby, I think they’ve got a lot to get out. I just… I don’t know if I’m the right person for that.”

Webby bit her thumb nail. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Can you… Do you think you could finish the show, but try to steer them away from their past? They were looking forward to this. I want them to enjoy it.” She smiled, slugging him lightly in the shoulder. “And you’re _definitely_ the right person when it comes to helping people enjoy themselves. You’re a great host, Dewey; just keep them distracted and laughing while I call in the big guns.”

Dewey gave her an award-winning smile and wink. “You got it, boss.”

Webby frowned. “I thought I was your assistant?”

“Whatever.” Dewey bounded back over to his chair. “Alright, everyone, welcome back to Dewey Deeeeeew-Night!” 

As he started things back up, Webby slipped out into the hall, pulling out her phone and opening her contacts. She tapped one and brought the phone up to her ear; it only rang once before it was picked up. 

_“Hey, Pink. What’s up?”_

“Hey,” Webby said. “I’m gonna need a favor.”

* * *

“That was so fun, Dewey!” May said after the interrogation was over.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Dewey said as he fiddled with the camera. Probably making sure the video had saved properly or something. 

“Yeah!” June said from the chair next to her. “I never knew how fun it is to talk about yourself!”

“Talking about yourself is the best,” Dewey agreed. 

“I _did_ feel pretty important,” May mused, hopping out of her chair. “Like a true celebrity!”

“Well, I don’t know if you two are celebrities just yet, but I think you’re pretty cool, at least,” Dewey said. “And as the coolest member of this family, that’s pretty high praise.”

There was a snort from the doorway. “The coolest, huh? That’s probably the funniest joke you’ve made all day.”

May turned to see a taller girl standing in the door frame, with pink hair, a dark sweater, and a cool, irreverent smirk. 

“Lena!” May and June cried out in unison. 

“We haven’t seen you since the plane ride!” May exclaimed. 

“Why are you here?” June asked. “Please tell me you’re staying for a while!”

“I’m here to see you twerps, actually,” Lena said with a smirk. 

May gasped. “You came… for us?”

“Yep.”

“Oh my gosh…” June mumbled from off to the side, eyes wide and sparkling. 

May and June didn’t know Lena very well, but they had talked with her and her sister for a while on the plane ride back from the Library, and she was actually super nice when you weren’t cutting strings on Webby’s family board. She’d even apologized for slamming June into the bookshelf, which, considering the circumstances, she really didn’t have to apologize for. She’d even used her magic to conjure friendship bracelets for them! Nobody had ever given May a gift before then. Nobody had ever said they’d wanted to be May’s _friend_ before then. Also, she had magical powers, which was crazy cool, and she’d been the one who caught them when everyone fell out of the plane. So she’d basically saved their lives! 

The point was, she couldn’t believe someone as cool as Lena had made time to come visit _them_ of all people. She must have so many other friends, right? Not to mention super secret magical missions and stuff. May was pretty confident those were a thing when you had magic powers. 

“It’s not gonna be all fun and games, though,” Lena said. “We’ve got something important to discuss.”

May shared an awed look with June, and then turned back to Lena. “Something important? Like a secret? What is it?” she asked. 

“Not a secret, exactly. I’ll tell you when we’re alone,” Lena said ominously, which, just—argh! So cool! “Why don’t you show me to your room?”

“YES!” June squealed, jumping up and running out of the room. “This way! Come on!”

Lena laughed, following after her at a more normal pace, and May jogged a little to catch up, falling into step next to Lena. “I didn’t know you were coming over today!” she said, giving Lena her best smile. “Do you, uh, do you come over to the mansion a lot?”

“Pretty often,” Lena said. “Webby’s always asking me to come around for sleepovers.”

May nodded. “You and Webby are best friends, right?”

“We, uh—yeah, I mean—” Lena stumbled a bit on her words, reaching up and fingering the tip of her pink hair. “Yeah. We’re best friends.” 

“That’s so cool,” May said. “I’ve never been to a sleepover before. What’s it like?”

“Well, you invite your friends over, and you stay up way too late having fun and gossiping,” Lena said. “Then you get attacked by some supernatural threat in the middle of the night and have to use the power of friendship to not die. That last part might just be our sleepovers, though.”

“That sounds exciting,” May said.

“It is. You and Pigtails will have to join us for our next one.” 

May gasped. “You mean it?!”

“Yep,” Lena said, reaching out and flicking her bow. “You two are part of the gang now. Sleepovers are mandatory.”

May smiled to herself. A sleepover… she wondered if she’d be any good at sleepovers. She hoped so. And if not, she’d work hard until she was the very _best_ at them!

They reached May and June’s bedroom soon after that. About a third of the room was taken up by the two twin beds on opposite sides, one with yellow sheets and one with blue sheets. They also had two desks and two dressers set up, forming a nice symmetry on either side of the room. Aside from that, though, the room was rather plain: the walls were bare and white, the floor only had a simple pink carpet, and the entirety of May and June’s belongings basically amounted to the sketchbook and art supplies that Webby had scrounged up for May when she’d mentioned she might like drawing, a small pile of books that the two of them had picked out a while ago and hadn’t started (May would read them eventually, she swore, she just had to get around to it), and June’s modest rock collection, which she’d started the first time they went outside and had promptly forgotten about.

“Alright, you two. Sit.” Lena patted May’s bed, and then crossed the room, sitting down on June’s bed and facing them. 

May walked over and hopped onto the edge of her bed, June soon joining her, close enough that their shoulders were brushing. She was nervous, May realized; she walked her hand across the covers, resting it over June’s. 

“So, what’s the important thing you wanted to talk with us about?” May asked.

“We’ll get there in a sec,” Lena said, kicking one leg up over her knee and leaning back on her palms. “First off, though, how’ve you two been doing?”

“Us?” May blinked. “I mean… we’ve been doing good.”

“Really good!” June chirped. 

“The beds are so soft here,” May added. “They’re a lot more comfortable than our tubes were.”

“And the food! The food’s _amazing,”_ June gushed. “I didn’t know food could taste so… tasty!”

“Nice,” Lena said. “What about making friends with Webby and the boys? Have you been fitting in alright?”

May hesitated for a fraction of a second before looking over at June. She returned the glance, and they silently agreed on their response in an instant.

“Totally!” June said emphatically, beaming. “Everyone’s been so nice and welcoming. It’s super easy to fit in!”

“I was worried, but everything’s been going so smoothly,” May agreed. “We already feel like a part of the family!”

Lena paused, regarding them for a few seconds as she tapped a finger against June’s bed. “You know,” she said eventually, “lying to me about it isn’t going to make it magically true or whatever.”

May felt her heart drop into her stomach, but she managed to mask it with a confused laugh. “What? We’re not lying.”

“Everyone’s—everyone’s been so nice and welcoming!” June repeated, her enthusiasm growing a bit plasticky and stale. Her hand had latched onto May’s behind them, a clammy vice grip. 

“Webby told me about what happened with you and Louie yesterday, Ponytail,” Lena said. Then she turned to June. “Same with you and Huey this morning.”

May rolled her eyes, and gave a smile that she hoped didn’t look too nervous. “Oh, those were just… little hiccups. Everything’s been great! Right, June?”

“It’s…” June turned away from her, fiddling with the hem of her skirtalls with her free hand. “It’s been really hard.”

May turned to her, eyes wide. _“June!”_

“She already knows,” June said, letting go of May’s hand. “And it’s been _hard,_ okay? Everyone keeps telling me it’s alright if I mess up, and that it’s not my fault that I don’t know how things work around here, but it _sucks!_ It always just makes me feel so stupid and useless. This is supposed to be our _home,_ May, but I couldn’t even figure out how to turn on that shower thingy! How can it be my home if I’m so… out of place?”

“June,” May said, softer this time, moving her arm around her sister. “No, you’re not stupid, it’s just—it’s—” She froze, turning back to face Lena, trying her best not to let her eyes betray her. “I-I mean, it’s, it’s not a big deal. It’s okay! It’ll be okay.”

Lena sighed. “You know there’s not, like, a correct answer here, right? This isn’t a test. Just be honest with me.”

May looked over at June, who was staring at the floor, and then back at Lena. She narrowed her eyes. “Okay, well—well, if this isn’t a test, what is it, then? Trying to see if you can make my sister cry for _real_ this time?”

Lena winced. “Hey, I apologized for that.”

“You shouldn’t have,” June murmured. “It didn’t even hurt that bad. I was just trying to manipulate Webby so we could bring her with us. But I messed _that_ up, too.” 

Lena shrugged. “I’m still sorry. Anyway, though, I guess I can’t expect you guys to be completely open with me if I’m not being completely open with you either, so I’ll get to the point.” She snapped her fingers, and in a burst of blue magic, a large rectangle of light appeared in the air next to her. “Welcome to clone therapy.”

Lena waved her hand, and the words ‘CLONE THERAPY’ appeared on the magical screen in big, bold type; and then under that, in much smaller lettering, it read, ‘Disclaimer: Lena is not a licensed therapist.’

May and June were silent for a couple seconds, staring at the board.

“Clone… therapy?” May said skeptically.

“Yep,” Lena said. “You guys know my, like… whole _deal,_ right?”

“You’re Magica de Spell’s niece,” June said. “That’s what the Phantom Blot told us.”

“Did he? Yeah, no, it’s a bit more complicated. I’m actually a clone she created from her shadow in order to take revenge on Scrooge McDuck.” She gave them a sly look. “Sound familiar?”

“You’re…” May’s eyes widened. “You’re like us.”

Lena nodded. “And I’ll bet that the two of you are gonna have to sift through a lot of the same emotional baggage that _I_ had to go through. Thus: clone therapy, where we can talk about the baggage together.”

“This is, um.” May cleared her throat. “This is very nice of you and all, but I, uh… I don’t really think I need therapy? Honestly, I’m adjusting pretty well!” She turned to June. “Not that _you_ can’t do it if you want to, though, June, I mean—I didn’t realize you were feeling that way, but I totally support you if you want to talk with Lena about it! I just don’t know if this is what _I_ need, you know, like on a personal level and all.”

“Thanks, May. I think… I’d like to try it out,” June said, squirming a bit on the edge of the bed. “Webby’s been super nice and all, but there’s a lot that… that I don’t really want to bring up with her. But I still kind of want to talk about stuff.”

“And you should!” May said. “I’m happy for you. So, uh, yeah, I’m just gonna…”

She moved to stand up, but then let out a squeak as an aura of blue magic surrounded her, pushing her back down against the mattress. “Not so fast, Ponytail,” Lena said, retracting the hand that she’d used to cut off May’s escape. “I think it’d be good for you to stay.”

May bristled. “But I don’t—”

“May,” June said, reaching out and taking her hand again. “Please. For me?”

May’s protests caught in her throat as she looked into her sister’s eyes. “I—okay. I’ll stay to support you, if that’s what you want.”

June gave her a smile. “Thanks.” 

“Cool,” Lena said. “Alright, here we go. Slide one: An Overview.”

She waved her hand again, and the screen shimmered, going blank. Lena began talking, and her words appeared on the display as she spoke.

“So, you were created by an evil supervillain to bring about the end of Scrooge McDuck, and she raised you and manipulated you into thinking she was your family, and she abused that one-sided emotional connection to make you want to gain her approval, because while you knew on some level that she didn’t really love you, you thought if you could just be good enough to make her happy, she might actually show you some of that affection you’d been lacking your entire life, and this pushed you into doing horrible things to Scrooge and his family, specifically Webby, but then Webby was the first person who ever _actually_ loved you, and this made you realize how wrong you were, so you helped her save her Scrooge, but now you feel lost because you’d betrayed the only family you’d ever known up until this point, and while Webby and her family accepts you now, you can’t really believe it because of the crushing guilt from what you did to them when you were trying to gain your creator’s approval, which you feel as though you can never really atone for, so you don’t feel quite like you fit in anywhere at all.”

May’s beak dropped open. “This is slide _one?”_

Lena shrugged. “Look, this isn’t actually, like, a prepared presentation; I’m making this up as I go. But the goal of Clone Therapy is to unpack all of _that_ ”—she gestured vaguely to the board—“one piece at a time.” 

June was just staring at the screen, her face caught somewhere halfway between deep, contemplative thought, and full-on panic attack.

May furrowed her brow, anxiously rubbing her thumb in circles around the back of June’s hand. Lena had basically spat her entire life story back in her face in under a minute; she hadn’t been kidding when she’d said they’d gone through similar things. But—but May _knew_ all of this already! She’d already accepted that Heron was—was _gone,_ and that she had a new family now. She was _adjusted._ She didn’t feel guilty, either; she’d just been carrying out her mission. 

She _always_ carried out her missions. For example, right now her mission was to support her sister. So she’d do that.

“Okay,” May said. “So, how does this tie in to what June was feeling?”

Lena gave her a curious look, but went along with the question. “Well, let’s start with the feelings of not fitting in, and the worry that your new family might kick you out. First off, this is a totally normal reaction to your situation; I went through the exact same thing my first few weeks living with the Sabrewings. You’ve just gone through a _monumental_ change to your living situation, family structure, and world view. Even without taking into account the identity crises we can face as clones of other people—we probably won’t have time to get to that one today, by the way, but it’s on the list—it’s expected that you would feel like you may not even know who you are anymore, since your situation changed so drastically so quickly.” 

The magical display changed again, showing a big red arrow that pointed from a picture of the F.O.W.L. logo on one side, to a picture of McDuck Manor on the other side.

“Right now, your bodies have been thrown all the way over here,” Lena explained, pointing at the Manor. “But your brain can’t make that leap so quickly. Mentally and emotionally, you guys are probably still somewhere in the middle here.” She pointed to the arrow. “You’re in flux. You’re leaving the only home you’ve known, but you haven’t quite made it to your new home, so you don’t know where you belong. That’s why things can feel so precarious; you may _physically_ be living here, but it isn’t _home_ for you yet, so you’re scared that this new life—which seems, let’s be honest, a little too good to be true—is only temporary. Following so far?”

“I—I think so. So… how do I get the rest of the way over?” June asked. “If I’m stuck on the arrow, I mean. How do I get my brain to realize that this is my home now, and stop being all… dumb?”

“Time,” Lena said simply.

June frowned. “Oh.”

“Sorry, but it’s the truth,” Lena said. “Even if you logically understand everything I’m telling you, and you understand _why_ you’re feeling this way, it won’t make this place feel like home any faster. The only thing that can do that is giving yourself the space and patience to grow closer to your new family. But trust me, it _will_ happen. You’ll get there. So next time you’re feeling like you don’t belong, or that you don’t fit in, remember that it won’t be that way forever, and if you feel yourself spiraling into thinking that you might have to leave, or that you’ll be kicked out, be patient with yourself; take a deep breath, and remind yourself that this is a long process. I think you’ll find that every day, you’ll feel a little more at home than the last. Take comfort in that.”

June nodded, smiling softly. “Thanks, Lena. That makes me feel a lot better.”

May gave her sister a smile, and tried to ignore the pit in her stomach that had been forming through Lena’s entire speech. She was doing fine; she’d already crossed the arrow. Right? Like, there had been that thing with Louie, sure, but they’d sorted it out. They were cool now. They watched TV together! So she was pretty sure she had already figured all of this stuff out. 

Good! That was good. Great, even. She was crushing this therapy thing.

“Now, the next thing I want to talk about off of this is what I like to call the ‘Love is Bullshit’ lesson.” Lena changed the screen again. Now it read ‘Love is Bullshit: A Treatise Against a Supply and Demand Based Economy.’

May raised an eyebrow. “What does love have to do with the economy?”

“Nothing,” Lena said. “That’s the point. The issue is that _you_ have been raised to believe that love is a product of value that has to be earned, and can be traded in return for various things such as favor and loyalty, and this has caused a deep-rooted misunderstanding in how you think people go about loving each other.”

“I’m lost,” June said.

“Remember that part of the big ramble at the start about how we were never loved properly as children, so we tried to gain the approval of our respective creators in the hopes that they would start loving us like we wanted them to? This is about that. You thought that if you could get the Papyrus to appear for you, Heron would love you like a real mother should. But you couldn’t get the Papyrus. Then you thought if you could bring back Webby and the missing mysterious, maybe that would do it. And you did! You brought them! But Heron _still_ didn’t love you like you wanted, did she?”

May and June looked at each other. 

“I…” June was just staring. “I… but… but Mom was… did she really not… love me?”

“I know it can be hard to confront,” Lena said, giving June a sad look. “But raising you just to use you as weapons against her enemies… Take it from me, that’s _not_ what love is. I know you two called her Mom, but did she ever call you her daughters?”

“She—” May stopped herself. “I-I mean…”

“I think if we had just…” June trailed off. “Or, or, if Bradford hadn’t been so strict, then maybe—”

“Look, it’s—it’s more complicated than you’re making it out to be, okay?” May said, turning a frustrated look on Lena. “It was _complicated._ But it doesn’t even matter anymore anyway. She’s dead.”

Lena sighed. “Okay, so, obviously there’s some… stuff going on there. We might have to tackle the whole Heron thing another day, I think. But my point for this session is less about her, and more about how you two perceive loving relationships in general.”

“Another day?” May asked, frowning. “You mean we’re gonna have to keep doing this?”

“That’s the plan,” Lena said.

“For how long?” June asked.

“Dunno,” Lena admitted. “As long as you still need it.”

May clenched a fist. “But I _don’t_ need it!”

“Trust me, it’s pretty obvious that you kind of really do.”

“No I don’t!” May insisted. “I’m doing _fine!_ Stop saying there’s something wrong with me!”

“That’s _not_ what I’m saying,” Lena said, pinching the space between her eyes. “Look, Pigtails said it’s helping her, right? Are you saying something’s wrong with her?”

“What?!” May’s eyes widened. “N-no, I just—well, hey, if you’re so _sure_ that I need your stupid therapy, then you know what? Go ahead! Tell me what my problem is that you’re trying to fix!”

“Which one?” Lena said flatly.

“Ha ha.” May crossed her arms. “I’m serious. If you’re so confident I need this, then tell me why I’m here.”

“May…” June said worriedly. 

May ignored her, continuing her staring contest with Lena. Lena held her gaze readily, though, eventually letting out a breath as she stretched her arms high above her head.

“Well, alright, then. This was the point I was building to anyway, so I might as well.” She lowered her arms again, leaning back casually on one hand as she gesticulated with the other. “So, because you felt that you had to prove yourself to Heron in order to be loved, you’ve got it in your head that you need to prove yourself to all of us, too, in order for us to love you. Love doesn’t work like that; we love you because we love you, no matter how smart you are, or how competent, or how funny, or whatever. But you can’t really wrap your head around that—you think that if we see you as stupid, or useless, or a failure, we won’t love you any more. It’s part of why you got so upset when Louie tricked you yesterday. It’s why you’re never happy with your art unless it’s absolutely perfect. It’s why you don’t want to ‘need therapy.’”

“I’m—” May felt herself shaking, and she stood up, taking an aggressive step towards Lena. _“Shut up!_ You don’t know what you’re talking about! You—I just—”

“May!” June cried, leaping off the bed and grabbing her by the arm. “May, stop!”

“I’m—I’m not—” May choked on the words, then turned, throwing herself into her sister and burying her face in her blouse, trying not to cry. “I’m not a burden…”

“Oh, May,” June said softly, hugging her tight. “You don’t have to be strong all the time.”

“Yes I _do!”_ May insisted. “I _do,_ I do, I—I—because if I’m not, then—” She let out a shuddery breath and pulled away, rubbing at her eyes. She’d managed not to full-on cry this time, at least, but she was still embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Lena, you—you were right. Everything you said was right. I’m just—I’m just broken, or, or _something._ I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Lena said. She waved her magical screen away with one arm and got up, walking over to the two of them. “You’re not broken, you’re _hurt._ F.O.W.L. hurt you, just like Magica hurt me. I’m not doing this to humiliate you, or to expose your flaws, or whatever, I just—I’ve _been_ where you are, May,” Lena implored, taking her by the shoulders. “I’ve cried the tears you’re wiping away. And it _sucks._ This is why I said love is bullshit; it makes _no_ sense. Because May, you could set the mansion on fire, unleash an ancient demon in the garage, and crash Della’s plane all in the same day, and those dorks would _still_ love you. I would still love you. _June_ would still love you. And that’s bullshit, right? Like, how does that work?”

May managed a laugh. “Yeah. That is pretty stupid.”

“Right?” Lena chuckled. “But it turns out that love— _real_ love—isn’t something you get from being the smartest, or the strongest, or the most useful, or the most successful. It’s something you get just by being yourself around people who like who you are, flaws and all. You’ve _found those people,_ May. Now all you have to do is learn to be yourself.”

“R-right.” May sniffed. “What if—what if I’m not entirely sure who that is?”

Lena smiled at her. “Well, then we can work on that, too. If you’re not too cool for clone therapy, that is.”

May looked up at her. “Well… us evil clones have to stick together, right? Maybe this won’t be that bad after all.”

“Glad to hear it,” Lena said. “I think this has been plenty for today, though. Just… think about the stuff I said, okay? And if something comes up, feel free to reach out to me, even if it’s outside of one of our sessions. If I’m not actively fighting for my life or whatever, then I’ve got time for you munchkins. Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” May said with a nod.

“Thanks, Lena,” June added. “You’re the best.”

“Yeah,” May agreed. “Webby’s lucky to be your best friend.”

“Ha, well, I’d say that one goes the other way around, but thanks.” Lena gave them a conspiratorial look. “Before we break this up, though, do you think you guys can keep a secret for me?”

“Oh, we’re great at keeping secrets,” June said confidently.

“What is it?” May asked.

Lena grinned. “I really like hugs.”

It was the last thing May heard before she was wrapped up in Lena’s telekinesis, and she let out a giggle as she and June were pulled tightly into Lena’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want, you can find me over at tumblr at [webby-vanderslap](https://webby-vanderslap.tumblr.com/).


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